This map, from the Peter Force Map Collection at the Library of Congress, was created by the Philadelphia engraver James Poupard. It was the third in a series featuring a chart of the Gulf Stream. The latter was well known to Spanish ship captains, who relied on it to sail from the Americas to the Iberian Peninsula, but there were no universal charts or maps due to Spanish secrecy. This map originally was sketched by Timothy Folger, a Nantucket fisherman and a cousin of Benjamin Franklin, who conceived the map ...

Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) was the American aviator who made the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 21–22, 1927. This is the chart with the gnomonic projection that he referred to as the “nugget of gold” that he found in a shop in San Pedro, California, while preparing for his transatlantic flight. It was this chart that enabled Lindbergh to determine quickly and accurately the great circle latitudes and longitudes as he plotted his course. The annotation on the map reads, “Used in laying out ...

This is one of four charts held at the American Geographical Society Library that the American aviator Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) used to plan his historic transatlantic flight. Lindbergh was an airmail pilot who, in 1926, learned of the $25,000 prize for the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris. Backed by a group of businessmen in St. Louis, Missouri, Lindbergh had a special plane built, which he named The Spirit of St. Louis in honor of his supporters. On May 21–22, 1927, Lindbergh achieved the first ...